no.13
Orecchiette with Burst Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Welcome back to issue no. 13 of Pasta Sunday. If you’re new here, welcome and thank you for joining us! This is my bi-monthly newsletter where I share a new recipe with readers, that more often than not has a strong focus on fresh pasta, the process and shaping techniques. Plus pretty pictures, a few ramblings from me AND basically all of the good stuff I’m not sharing on other platforms. So, let’s dig in!
I went through a bit of a phase recently where I kind of just… stopped making orecchiette. Not because I don’t absolutely love it - believe me, I do - but because I was just seeing so much of it online, to the point where its value as something special sort of diminished for me. It didn’t feel exciting, or new, or different. It also didn’t feel like something that I thought you’d want to see from yet another pasta obsessed person on the internet. I mean, do you ever feel like you’re just seeing the same shit over and over again? The same recipe, with the same music, the same caption and hook… devoid of any originality. As a naturally creative person it makes me feel sad, but equally overwhelmed because I’m also out here trying to create pasta magic to share with you, and I want my recipes to come across authentic and original.
It’s easy to get caught up in those feelings, and the way my brain manages is by switching off any ounce of creativity as if it’s a helpful response. But, that quiet time away from creativity does lead me back to basics, to the classics. Orecchiette - I thought - that’s what I want to make. The repetitive ritual of quickly rolling out small pieces of dough, gently folding them back over my thumb to create that sweet shape we all know and love. It felt natural.
And the sauce! Well, surely a classic tomato pairing is perfect. I thought back to a simple tomato sauce that I make, and planned something similar. Grabbing a few of my books to research and consult before I finalised what I had in my head, I found Rachel Roddy’s incredible book An A-Z of Pasta included a very similar recipe, teaching me the term pomodori scoppiati, a way to describe how the tomatoes burst during cooking. Perfect, simple, classic. Done before - sure! But does that mean it’s any less wonderful?
So really, today’s recipe is a reminder that the wheel does not need to be reinvented every time you do something. And as the subject suggests, it’s a classic for a reason. I hope you enjoy ❤️1
Shaping Orecchiette
There are a couple of different ways of doing this but my personal favourite is cutting and shaping directly from a rolled out rope of dough. Typically I roll the dough into a rope roughly 1-2cm in thickness, then cut a small piece from said rope before dragging it towards me with the knife at a 30 degree angle. Make sure to lift the pressure at the very end to ensure a little ridge is achieved, helping to create that ear-like look. The piece of pasta will curl into a shell, so all that’s left to do it turn it back over itself using your thumb as a shaping tool, if you will.
Suggested Wine Pairing
Seeing as though I’ve gone with a classic theme for today’s newsletter, it would be sacrilege to suggest anything otherwise. This is a high acid sauce given it is pretty much 100% tomatoes, so a medium-bodied and somewhat tart wine will pair beautifully here - a couple of suggested varieties to try:
Sangiovese, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Nero d’Avola.
Sunday Soundtrack
Everything I’ve been listening to on repeat this week! Turn it up and get kneading.
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